Bullseye: Making hay while the sun shines
TARGET With shooting out of 2022 programme, Indians hope to make the most in this edition
NEWDELHI: Indian sportspersons are traditionally among the best when it comes to hand-eye coordination. The one drawback is they come to party late, but once they arrive, they ensure dominance.
Shooting sport had been the preserve of countries such as Canada, Australia and England since the discipline was included in the Commonwealth Games in 1966, but once India came into reckoning, in 2002 Manchester, they dominated proceedings till 2010 New Delhi, until downsizing of the shooting sport started.
While 2014 Glasgow saw the pairs (team) event getting the boot, many traditional events have been discontinued for the 2018 Gold Coast edition. The 2022 Birmingham Games will see the sport altogether thrown out.
Nooneknowswhythecommonwealth Games Federation behaves in the manner it does, but it would suggest prejudice towards countries that were once colonised by the British. Perhaps, wrestling could be the next on the chopping block, a sport where India dominate. However, lawn bowls will never be discontinued given the exalted status it enjoys!
Coming back to shooting, India have been forced to field only a 27-member squad, if one goes by the fewer quotas allotted to the sport this time. Still, they are likely to dominate given that Olympics bronze-medallist Gagan Narang, former world champion trap shooter Manavjit Sandhu and top rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput will march with the new generation that includes multiple World Cup (senior and junior) gold medallist Manu Bhaker, Mehuli Ghosh and Anish Bhanwala.
Competitions will be held in nine men’s and eight women’s events across rifle, pistol and shotgun categories. This time, the CWG organising committee has reduced the country’s quota across sports and hence only 15 men and 12 women shooters have been fielded by India. Manu, the 16-year-old from Jhajjar, Haryana, will be competing in the women’s 10m air pistol, in which she won two senior
World Cup gold, and will look to extend her rich form. Her golden run started at the
National Championships in Thiruvananthapuram in
December, where she won nine gold and eclipsed stalwart Heena Sidhu’s national record. It doesn’t look like her hunger for more gold has been satiated.
Like Manu, Mehuli is a talented young shooter to watch out for. The Kolkata girl recently won two bronze in 10m air rifle at the World Cup in Mexico. The 17-year-old will compete alongside Olympian Apurvi Chandela, the defending champion in 10m air rifle.
The third teenager in the team, 15-year-old Anish Bhanwala was in the news recently for juggling his
Board exams and shooting competitions. He is tipped to achieve a podium finish in rapid fire pistol, an event made popular by Vijay Kumar, who won silver at the 2012 London Olympics.
At 41, Manavjit Sandhu is the seniormost member of the team. He will be aiming for gold after three consecutive bronze medals since 2006. India has a rich tradition in double trap with RVS Rathore emerging winner in 2002 and 2006 and, though the event has been dropped from the Olympic curriculum, Ankur Mittal will hope to keep the tradition alive.
At the 2010 CWG, Indian shooters won 14 gold, 11 silver and 5 bronze. Shooting alone contributed 30 of the 101 medals India won. Following the decision to drop the pairs event, India’s medal count in shooting plummeted to 17 (4 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze) four years later.
However, it’s a given that shooting sport will be the highest medal grosser for India.